Tyrannosaurus rex lives.

Cartoon by Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner.

A clear victory for free speech in Canada.
The BC Supreme Court has ruled that the City of Powell River was wrong to threaten charges of defamation against three residents who dared to criticise the mayor and council over their handling of a controversial harbour development.
As reported by The Vancouver Sun’s Daphne Bramham, the decision forcefully [...]

The Hindu political party BJP has nominated for elective office a man now in police custody and accused of leading anti-Christian mob violence in Orissa state, India, that began last August.
Manoj Pradhan is the prime accused in last year’s ethno-communal riots in Kandhmal and currently behind bars. But that hasn’t stopped BJP from giving a [...]

Many Saudi Arabian women seek divorce through khula, a provision of Sharia law that requires the wife to provide financial compensation to her husband. Such compensation can entail repayment of the dowry plus other expenses incurred during the marriage.
Sara, a 32-year-old mother of three children, has been trying to secure a divorce from her [...]

The Canadian flag used to hang from the ceiling of Wyckham House, the student centre at Mount Royal College, Calgary. It was taken down during renovations, but the students’ association is apparently having qualms about restoring it to its former place of honour. Students will be surveyed.
“We want to be as fully representative [...]

Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN) reports that two Iranian Christian women were arrested and imprisoned earlier this month solely because of their faith.
On March 5th 2009, two Iranian Christian women, Miss Marzieh Amirizadeh Esmaeilabad (30), and Miss Maryam Rustampoor (27), were arrested by the Iranian security forces. Their only crime is that they are committed [...]

Newfoundland and Labrador joined Confederation sixty years ago today, but it doesn’t seem to be a joyous occasion in St John’s.
No tributes, no ceremonies and no parties are planned to mark the 60th anniversary on Tuesday of Newfoundland and Labrador joining Canada.
Premier Danny Williams had planned last fall to hold a celebration to mark both [...]

A wrong-headed column in The Times of London contends that the G20 nations need to get beyond the “false dichotomy” of “free trade versus protectionism”.  Noreena Hertz of Judge Business School, Cambridge, notes rightly that Western leaders are hypocritically extolling free trade while implementing protectionist measures on the sly.  Then, however, she insists that protectionism [...]